Expanding on the Grand Plan for Digital Literacy

Media literacy. Website evaluation. Digital vocabulary. Reputation management. Digital self-control. Basic troubleshooting strategies. These are all important skills and concepts- along with many others – that students need to know in order to be successful in today’s digital world. Some students may learn these skills through trial and error, or because they have parents or teachers who are good digital coaches and role models, but often these skills slip through the cracks.

In order for teachers to feel more comfortable about helping their students understand digital fluency and digital citizenship, I’ve been working on developing a course that will be offered in my district. This course will help teachers think about the reasons for teaching digital skills, the critical thinking skills that are required of students in an online environment, and how teachers can successfully weave these skills into what they already teach without feeling like they now have “one more thing to do.”

Although I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, I’ll be completely honest here and say that I’m not a big “data person.” I recognize that that confession perhaps puts me in an unpopular minority. I do understand that data is important; I know I need to pay attention to data; I get that measurement shows us where we need to improve; etc., etc. But we are in a profession that is focused on other human beings, and I hope NEVER to forget that kids (and teachers) are so much more than a bunch of discrete data points.

However, my current grad class is all about assessing digital learning initiatives, and I’m definitely happy to be pushed out of my comfort zone to consider measuring the impact of my crazy schemes to take over the world improve digital literacy. Click the image or the link below to see an outline of what that might look like for the Digital Literacy course I’m cooking up: